Protests continued on Friday over the lynching of two people on the campuses of Dhaka University and Jahangirnagar University, while six activists of Bangladesh Chhatra League, the student wing of Awami League, gave statements before a metropolitan magistrate court in Dhaka confessing their involvement to the Wednesday night鈥檚 killing at DU.
The police picked up a former BCL leader Habibur Rahman Habib from Dhamrai, on the outskirts of Dhaka, early Friday, hours after the JU authorities had filed a case over lynching ex-BCL leader Shamim Ahmed on the campus on Wednesday night. The case was filed with Ashulia police station Thursday night.
A group of students of DU beat a mentally unstable man, Tofazzal Hossain,聽 to death at the university鈥檚 Fazlul Haque Hall alleging that the victim had stolen mobile phones and ex-BCL leader Shamim Ahmed was beaten to death on the JU campus on allegation that the victim was involved in attacking protestors during anti-discrimination movement in July.
The probe committee formed by DU authorities submitted its report Thursday night identifying eight students鈥� involvement in killing Tofazzal. Six of the identified ones were arrested, a press release issued by the university on Friday said.
The six DU students who gave confessional statements before Dhaka metropolitan magistrate Saddam Hossain in the case of beating Tofazzal to death are Jalal Ahmed of the physics department, Mohammad Sumon, Mohammad Muttakin Sakin, Al Hossain Sajjad, Ahsanullah and Wazibul Alam.
鈥楢ll the accused are residential students of Fazlul Huq Muslim Hall. Of them, Jalal Ahmed is a former Chhatra League leader while the five others are his followers,鈥� Dhaka court inspector Asaduzzaman said.
He said that the court, after recording the confessional statements, sent the accused students to jail.
抖阴精品 Correspondent at JU, quoting Ashulia Police Station officer-in-charge Abu Bakor Siddiqui, reported that the university鈥檚 deputy registrar for security affairs, Sudipta Shaheen, lodged a case with Ashulia police station against eight students of the university and unidentified 20 to 25 others over the killing of Shamim.
The accused students are Mohammad Rajon Mia and Raju Ahmed of the government and politics department, Mahmudul Hasan Rayhan and Hamidullah Salman of the English department, Jubayer Ahmed of the history department, Ahsan Labib of the biotechnology and genetic engineering department, and Atikuzzaman Atik of management studies department of the university.
OC Abu Bakor said that they picked up Dhamrai Government College unit of BCL鈥檚 former president Habibur Rahman Habib from the Dhamrai area early Friday for interrogation over Shamim鈥檚 death.
On Friday, different quarters continued protests over the lynching incidents on the campuses of the country鈥檚 two top universities.
On the DU campus, students under the banner of 鈥楽tudents from Patharghata living in Dhaka鈥� staged a demonstration in front of Aparajeyo Bangla protesting at the killing of Tofazzal and demanding justice.
DU student Nasrin Sultana questioned the role of the proctorial body and the university administration during the incident.
鈥榃e demand a fair investigation into the killing and exemplary punishment for the offenders,鈥� she said.
Students of the pharmacy department also held a rally in front of the Anti-Terrorism Raju Memorial Sculpture protesting against mob killings across the country and demanding immediate steps to stop such incidents.
They urged the authorities to stop former BCL leaders and activists from entering the halls.
Our JU Correspondent reported that a group of students brought out a procession on the campus protesting at mob killings and demanding a ban on politics for teachers, students and employees inside the campus.
They alleged that at least five activists of Jatiyatabadi Chhatra Dal were suspected to be involved in the lynching of Shamim.
They claimed that the JCD activists got involved in the killing out of their political vengeance.
After the procession, they met in a rally in front of the residence of the university vice-chancellor Professor Kamrul Ahsan on the campus to press home their demand.
The protesters gave a 24-hour ultimatum to the university administration for banning politics on the campus.
JU vice-chancellor Mohammad Kamrul Ahsan said that he would discuss the matter with the university鈥檚 administrative body soon.
According to general students and those who witnessed the video clippings of the lynching of Shamim on the JU campus, of the eight accused named in the case of the killing, Raju Ahmed of the government and politics department and Rajon Hasan and Hamidullah Salman of the English department were involved in the politics of JCD.
Apart from the named eight accused, general students alleged that Sayed Hossain Bhuiyan, a former general secretary of the JU unit of JCD, and MN Shohag of the computer science and engineering department were among those suspected to have killed Shamim.
None of the five could be reached for comments over the telephone.
The central committee of JCD in a press release on Thursday night claimed that the accused JU students were not involved with their politics as the student organization had no committee in JU.
The Socialist Students鈥� Front and the Bangladesh Students鈥� Union in separate statements on Friday condemned the killings on the campuses.
